Bleed Love
by Katako-Chan
Summary: She couldn't stop. Not now, not ever. Inspired by Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love. Scorpius/Rose


**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter is ALL J.K. Rowling's.

* * *

**Bleed Love**

by Katako-Chan

Rose Weasley had only dated once or twice, and then decided the whole ordeal was more trouble than it was worth, not to mention rather frightening. When you truly were involved in the dating scene, especially at Hogwarts, where news spread faster than Fiendfyre, you ended up too often with soaked through pillows, empty chocolate boxes and crumpled tissues littered around your bed. Well, at least, that was what held true with Rose's dorm mates.

She'd only ever considered any of her flings, well, just that: flings. They'd happened in fourth and fifth year, and nothing really became serious, from what she had observed, until the later half of sixth year. With about forty, hormone-crazed sixteen-year-olds, things got pretty out of hand, and Rose was not eager to start the second term of sixth year for that very reason. She'd already had Sarah come to her for comfort after a break-up three or four times, and she really didn't want her dorm mates getting ideas about seeking her out as "the comforter" after their relationships ended badly either.

Of course, all of her old-fashioned dating theories flew out the window the moment she truly noticed Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius had always been there, it was not as if he had never been a part of her life until that very moment in History of Magic (someone must have slipped her something to make her decided to take this course to the N.E.W.T. level) one afternoon. Scorpius had always gotten along very well with Al, despite House differences. She had studied for O.W.L.'s with him on late nights in the library, and they'd exchanged friendly small talk in the corridors, but she'd never truly noticed him (his presence, yes, but not him) until that drowsy March afternoon.

_The sun was streaming through the windows into Professor Binn's stuffy classroom. As a ghost, he never aged, and neither did his teaching. He was the same monotonous teacher that he'd been twenty-six years ago when Rose's mum and dad were in school. All of his students were asleep, dozing off, or checking their watches every five minutes. Even Rose, who knew that the class was important, was staring off into space. She sat towards the back, rather unusually, searching for something to keep her entertained for another forty-five minutes, when her eyes fell upon Scorpius, seated beside her cousin Albus (whom she'd roped into taking the class with her)._

_He was leaning back in his chair so that only the back legs remained on the floor, his hands clasped behind his head, obscuring some of his white-blond hair. His white shirt was rather wrinkled, his tie had been loosened to accommodate the stuffiness of the classroom, and he looked absolutely bored and beautiful all at once._

_Rose didn't know why, but suddenly her heart started pounding against her ribs with a ferocity that she'd never felt before. She knew it wasn't simply because she found Scorpius attractive, about the entire female population of Hogwarts did, she wasn't one for lusting after boys like Lily did, and she truly didn't know him that well. Frankly, Rose thought of Scorpius as a nice enough fellow who was good mates with her cousin, and thus in rather regular contact with herself, but she'd never actually thought of him as anything other than "Scorpius Malfoy, Al's friend." This new feeling confused her._

After that day in History of Magic, Rose had taken to spending more time with Al and Scorpius. She didn't think she was truly ignoring Sarah, who had a great number of "gal pals" whom she could chat with, and Sarah never once brought it up, whereas, if Al and Scorpius found her sudden insistence to spend time with them odd, they never mentioned it. Rose learned, from her time spent with them, that Scorpius wasn't simply a "nice fellow," but a very gentlemanly young man who was determined to show he hadn't inherited anything other than his looks from his father.

If she'd been rather forward with her initial infatuation and later fancy with him, Rose would never know. What she did know was that Al had begun giving both Scorpius and her funny looks, wearing his "I'm-plotting-a-new-prank" face. Rose had begun to exercise caution around her food and any other possible place where Al could plant his prank, but nothing happened. Still, the odd looks remained, along with Al's facial expression (which became quite constant), and Scorpius was strangely distant, as if he had a secret he couldn't tell (Rose suspected Al's prank).

It took a rather rude awakening from Lily for her to understand exactly what was going on with Al's new "prank," and a rather conversation-less meeting in the library with Scorpius when they were supposed to be working on a Transfiguration essay for any form of an intimate relationship to truly blossom between them.

A grand total of two people knew of their relationship: Albus and Lily, both of whom had seen the signs of what was to come long before it actually came. Rose was fine with the way it was, and hoped that it would remain that way (she knew for sure that her dad would be less than pleased with the situation, and Scorpius' dad likely worse), though she had a sneaking suspicion that Professor Longbottom knew something that he wasn't letting on (thankfully, to her or her parents). If someone like James knew, though, the entirety of Hogwarts and all the Weasleys would know in an instance.

As it was, though, someone outside of their little secret circle was bound to find out sooner or later, and it just so happened to be James.

_Rose meandered through the corridors, wondering which floors Scorpius had been assigned to patrol. The top floors had very little activity, and she hadn't seen anyone during the whole half hour that she'd actually been patrolling for. After that, her thoughts had wandered to her boyfriend, wherever he may be: in his common room, shirking from his duties, or wandering along another lonesome corridor, thinking about her._

_So lost in her thoughts was she that she didn't notice the other equally bored prefect until she'd run straight into him._

_"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mea-. Scorpius?" Rose fluttered her hands nervously before peering up at the blonde Slytherin curiously._

_"Rose," he chuckled. "Daydreaming, again?"_

_"Seeing as the time of day, I'd call it dreaming, except that I was conscious," she growled._

_"Conscious? I beg to differ." When Rose harrumphed, Scorpius immediately changed tactics. "You know I'm just pushing your buttons, Rosie. But you know, you're exceptionally beautiful when you're angry."_

_"That doesn't work, Malfoy. It never worked on my mum, and it won't work-mmmph!" Rose was cut off by his kiss, initiated a snog session. She uncrossed her arms and flung them around Scorpius' neck while one of his hands worked its way through her hair to the back of her head. The most wonderful weak-kneed, stomach turning sensation never failed to appear when he kissed her, and Rose felt as if she was about to melt into a puddle of ecstasy when a voice crashed her back to the fifth floor corridor and her duties._

_"Oi, Malfoy! That's my baby cousin you're snogging there!" James marched towards them rather threateningly, all trace of his usual cheerful demeanor gone._

_"James, I'm not your youngest cousin; Hugo is two years younger than me!" Rose cried, exasperated, while throwing herself in front of Scorpius._

_"Yeah, but Hugo is a man, Rosie, he can take care of himself. As for you and Lily? Well, we men have to take care of you!" James raised a fist to pummel Malfoy, not even bothering to take out his wand._

_"Stop, James, stop! He isn't like his dad; to hell with everything my dad says about Mr. Malfoy when Uncle Harry mentions Al and Scorpius being mates! James, haven't you realized that he's not like his father? Your brother is his best friend!" Angry tears streamed down Rose's face as she tried to stop her older and larger cousin from beating her boyfriend to a bloody pulp._

_"How long did you plan to keep it secret, anyways? Till you were married? Till you popped a baby? You can't keep secrets within our families, Rosie, I thought you knew that. Who knows, anyways?" James had relented in trying to physically harm Scorpius, but his eyes were still murderous._

_"Only Albus and Lily! I swear on Merlin's pants, on Uncle George's only ear, on anything, I was going to tell all of you, but I couldn't figure out how! Honest," deflated, Rose looked rather pathetic, and Scorpius wrapped his arm around her comfortingly._

_Throughout the whole ordeal, Scorpius had been rather silent. He'd been expecting one of Rose's many male cousins to come storming up to him any day now and hexing him into oblivion (as nice as Al's sister was, she did like to gossip), and a Muggle duel didn't seem that out of place either. But by Merlin, he did love Rose, and if she had to face her family's wrath, he would too._

James was right; secrets couldn't be kept in a family so large and nosy. When Rose had gotten off the train at the end of the year, her dad had given her a great bear hug as usual, but something seemed off. The whole car ride back had seemed rather stiff and awkward, and with the unwelcome addition of Hugo's strange looks, Rose had felt completely miserable.

The journey seemed endless, but they finally did reach the house. Hermione immediately pulled Rose aside as soon as they'd unloaded the trunks from the car, insisting that they needed to talk. Rose knew what was coming and had been mentally preparing herself for it since after the end of the year feast, but felt a new wave of nausea wash over her at the prospect of facing her father.

But there wasn't a lone figure hunched on the sofa in the sitting room, but three. Rose was almost forced down upon an ottoman as her mum took a seat beside her dad, while Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny gave her inquisitive looks.

"Rose," her mother began tentatively. "Your Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny have heard something rather distressing from James. He claims that he saw, what where his exact words? Oh, yes, 'Scorpius Malfoy eating your face off while you ought to have been doing your rounds.' All we want to know is if it was true or not, now is it, dear?"

Rose glanced from her mother's blank face to her father's rather sulky-angry one, and then on to Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny, both of whom looked rather confused, irritated, and excited all at once. She gulped and looked down at her shoes before whispering, "Yes."

"Now, Rosie," this time, it was Auntie Ginny who spoke, "We know that Scorpius isn't who his father is, or else he and Al would never get along nearly as well as they do, but do are you really serious about this? We understand that Scorpius is a nice boy, but-."

"Ginny," her dad interrupted, looking Rose straight in the eye and wrenching her heart out when she saw the anger and disappointment there, as an inkling thought in the back of her head breathed a mental sigh of relief that Dad had been given time to calm down and speak rationally. "Rosie-girl, he is Scorpius Malfoy, Al's best mate or not, he's a Malfoy. And, well, far too many times has his father been, sorry, Hermione, an arse that no matter what you or Al may say, I can only see him as his father. I know you...feel for him, 'cause you're a smart girl, Rosie, but I'm your father, and I just don't want you to get hurt. Forgive me for being narrow-minded, but I can only see you getting hurt with him." Her father spoke hesitantly, picking his words carefully.

Rose got up from her seat. "Look, Mum, Dad, Uncle Harry, Auntie Ginny, I know what you're trying to say, and I know it's hard enough that Al and Scorpius are best mates, but I can't tell you that I'll stop seeing him, because, well, think of it, Dad, like if Granddad Weasley told you to stop seeing Mum before you two were married, or if Grandma Weasley told you to stop seeing Uncle Harry, Auntie Ginny! I just can't, and I...I love him. No, I'm not too young to be saying that, because I really, truly feel that way. Please, don't ask me to stop seeing him, because I can't."

She closeted herself in her room for the remainder of the day, thinking things through while clutching one of Scorpius' shirts (which he'd let her borrow, and she'd never returned) to her face, drowning in his smell. Her parents and aunts and uncles would whisper about this until term started on September 1st, at the very least, and Rose didn't know if she could put up with the quick, sharp looks until then.

But even as she thought she would despair from their gossip, Rose knew she couldn't do anything to stop it. There wasn't any way she could simply stop feeling this way about Scorpius, it permeated from every pore on her body, every fiber of her being. That weak-kneed wonder and the simple joy of spending the afternoon with him by the lake (after homework was finished, naturally) had already become an irreplaceable part of her life, and it felt almost as natural but a thousand times more wonderful than breathing.

There was no way she could stop loving Scorpius. There simply wasn't. She could have bled to death and all she'd bled would have been love for him.


End file.
